In a study of NK cell repertoire and tuberculosis (TB), Garand and coworkers found a diversified population of NK cells in latently infected individuals versus active TB cases. NK cells from latently infected individuals exhibited a higher frequency of memory-type surface markers. The results indicate a primed NK cell population resulting from previous TB exposure, thus, bridging innate and adaptive immunity.
In this study, Medonic M32 hematology system was used.
Garand, M., Goodier, M., Owalabi, O., Donkor, S., Kampmann, B., Sutherland, J.S. Functional and Phenotypic changes of natural Killer cells in Whole Blood during Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and Disease. Front Immunol 9, doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.00257 (2018).